Defending British Touring Car champion Ash Sutton was left slightly frus🦋trated after qualifying fifth for Sunday's first Thruxton race, but is positive over the progress his NAPA Racing squad are making wit🐼h the Ford Focus.

Sutton produced a time just over 0.2s seconds shy of Josh Cook's pole position lap in Saturday's qualifying and felt he c🐠ould've matched that time if he strung all of his 🥃best sectors together.

"There was definitely more there. It was a bit fr💝ustrating on my side. We know there was another 0.2s there if I put the sectors together," Sutton told ltxcn.top.

"If no one else had anything in the bag, that should’ve been pole. I locked up on the final chicane on one lap and then we went green and purple🔜 again and Chilton was facing the wrong way at Church, so both laps got hurt, which was a 🍬shame.

"A bit frustrating but I’m overall positive that we’re going in the right directio✃n with everything."

Having struggl꧑ed with the balance of his Ford Focus since joining the Motorbase Performance squad for 2022, Sutton feels they've 'got a better steer of the car' this weekend.

"I think we’ve got a bit of a better steer on the car this weekend. The true test is tomorrow [Sunday]. I think when we go into race mode it’s managing that tyre degradation to the other FWD cars," Sutton continued🍎.

"We can’t really includ𝐆e the RWD cars with that. Today [Saturday] has been a good day but it’s all abou♏t race day.

"With the feedback and feeling we’re getting today, it’s a positive going into Sunday.🔯 But 𒁃until we get running and we’re under that pressure of putting the car through constant hard graft, we won’t really know."